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U.S. Bank Altitude Reserve: The best travel rewards card you’ve never heard of (No longer available)

November 13, 2024: Alongside the launch of the U.S. Bank Smartly™ Visa Signature® Card, the U.S. Bank Altitude® Reserve Visa Infinite® Card has been discontinued and is no longer available to new cardmembers.

U.S. Bank Altitude® Reserve Visa Infinite® Card card art

The U.S. Bank Altitude® Reserve Visa Infinite® Card is a premium travel rewards card from U.S. Bank. It offers incredible rewards on mobile wallet purchases, an easy-to-use travel and restaurants credit and a limited amount of airport lounge access. The U.S. Bank Altitude® Reserve Visa Infinite® Card has an annual fee of $400.

When you make purchases with your card using your mobile wallet, you’ll earn 3 points per dollar, making the card effectively a “3% anywhere” card. The Altitude Reserve can be used with Apple Pay®, Google Pay™. and Samsung Pay. You’ll earn 5 points per dollar on prepaid hotel stays and car rentals booked in the Altitude Rewards Center and 1 point per dollar everywhere else you swipe your card. Points can be redeemed for 1 cent of cash back each, or for 1.5 cents worth of travel through the U.S. Bank travel portal.

The card comes with a $325 annual statement credit that applies automatically toward eligible travel purchases or dining purchases. You’ll get a Priority Pass Select membership with 8 free visits to airport lounges and a $100 statement credit to reimburse your TSA PreCheck or Global Entry membership fee once every four years.

U.S. Bank Altitude Reserve at a glance

U.S. Bank Altitude® Reserve Visa Infinite® Card card art

Annual fee: $400
Foreign transaction fee: None

All information about the U.S. Bank Altitude® Reserve Visa Infinite® card has been collected independently by cardsandpoints.com.

The U.S. Bank Altitude® Reserve Visa Infinite® card offers some of the best rewards—equivalent to 3% cash back or 4.5% travel rewards—anywhere you can use mobile wallet to pay.

Sign-up bonus

The U.S. Bank Altitude® Reserve Visa Infinite® card is no longer available to new cardmembers.

Rewards

  • 5x points on prepaid hotels and car rentals booked directly in the Altitude Rewards Center.
  • 3x points on mobile wallet spending with Apple Pay®, Google Wallet, and Samsung Pay.
  • 3x points on eligible travel purchases.
  • 1x points on all other eligible purchases.

Rewards are earned as Altitude Rewards points.

Altitude Rewards points can be redeemed for cash back at 1 cent per point or used to book travel through the Altitude Rewards center at 1.5 cents per point. You can also redeem your points against travel purchases through Real Time Rewards at 1.5 cents per point.

Benefits

Consumer insurance benefits
  • Extended warranty protection.
  • Purchase security.
  • Return protection.
  • Personal identity theft protection.
Travel insurance benefits
  • Auto rental collision damage waiver.
  • Lost luggage reimbursement.
  • Travel accident insurance.
  • Emergency evacuation and transportation.
  • Trip cancellation/interruption coverage.
  • Trip delay reimbursement.
  • Travel and emergency assistance services.
Travel benefits
  • Airport lounge access. Complimentary Priority Pass™ Select membership with 8 free visits annually.
  • TSA PreCheck or Global Entry statement credit.
Partner benefits and statement credits
  • $325 annual statement credit for eligible travel and dining purchases.
  • Free Shipt membership until 12/31/24 with enrollment. After free membership expires, you are automatically enrolled in an annual Shipt membership at then-current prices until you cancel.

U.S. Bank Altitude Reserve rewards

The U.S. Bank Altitude Reserve card earns its highest rewards on prepaid hotels and car rentals, but we think that its most interesting rewards category is mobile wallet purchases, which turns the card into 3% (almost) anywhere card!

Benefits of the U.S. Bank Altitude Reserve

The U.S. Bank Altitude Reserve offers a generous suite of consumer insurance and travel benefits. Here’s an overview of the benefits of this card.

Consumer insurance benefits
Purchase security
Return protection
Extended warranty
Personal identity theft protection
Travel insurance benefits
Primary auto rental collision damage waiver insurance
Travel accident insurance
Trip cancellation and interruption insurance
Trip delay reimbursement
Lost luggage reimbursement
Emergency evacuation and transportation and repatriation of remains coverage
Travel benefits
Priority Pass Select – 8 free visits
Statement credits
$325 in annual credits for travel and dining
TSA PreCheck or Global Entry credit
Benefits of the U.S. Bank Altitude Reserve Visa Infinite Card

Consumer insurance benefits

Many cards offer consumer insurance benefits that can protect the things you buy. Here are the consumer insurance benefits offered by U.S. Bank Altitude Reserve. Terms and restrictions apply to all benefits.

Purchase security protects the things you buy with your card from damage or theft for a certain amount of time after you buy them. The Altitude Reserve purchase protection covers your new purchases for 90 days against damage or theft up to $10,000 per claim and $50,000 per cardholder.

Return protection can give you a refund on an item if the store you bought it from won’t take it back. The return protection on the Altitude Reserve provides return protection for 90 days from the date of purchase, up to $300 per item and $1,000 per account.

Extended warranty provides additional warranty coverage on items you purchase with your card. Altitude Reserve extended warranty protection extends the time period of the U.S. manufacturer’s warranty by an additional year, on eligible warranties of three years or less.

Personal identity theft protection can reimburse you for expenses you incur to repair a stolen identity, up to $10,000.

Travel insurance benefits

Cards targeted toward travelers often offer travel insurance benefits that can protect you when you are traveling away from home. Terms and restrictions apply to all benefits.

Primary auto rental collision damage waiver insurance protects you against damage to or theft of your rental vehicle, and pays for damages without requiring you to make a claim with your insurance company. For coverage to apply, you need to reserve and pay for your vehicle using your card and decline your car rental company’s collision damage waiver. Coverage is provided for rental period of 15 consecutive days within your country of residence and 31 days outside it. Coverage does not apply in Israel, Jamaica, the Republic of Ireland, or Northern Ireland. 

Travel accident insurance pays a fixed benefit amount for certain losses of life or limb when you are injured during a trip that you have charged to your card. See your card’s Guide to Benefits for details.

Trip cancellation and interruption insurance can reimburse you for prepaid travel expenses when your trip is canceled or interrupted for a covered reason. Altitude Reserve trip cancellation and interruption insurance covers up to $2,000 of non-refundable common carrier fares charged to your card.

Trip delay reimbursement can cover your incidental expenses or a hotel room when your travel is delayed for a covered reason. Altitude Reserve trip delay insurance covers delays of 6 hours or that require an overnight stay and up to $500 per ticket purchased with your card.

Lost luggage reimbursement offers reimbursement if your bags are stolen or lost while traveling on a common carrier. Coverage is included up to $3,000 per covered trip.

Emergency evacuation and transportation and repatriation of remains coverage covers necessary medical transportation in certain cases where you have a medical necessity to be evacuated or transported while traveling on a trip you booked with the card, up to $10,000. The repatriation of remains benefit covers expenses up to $1,000.

Travel benefits

The U.S. Bank Altitude Reserve offers a limited lounge access to cardmembers.

Priority Pass Select gives you access to over 1,300 airport lounges when traveling on any airline. Your card includes a Priority Pass membership with 8 complimentary airport lounge visits per year. Additional visits are offered for a per-visit cost.

Statement credits

$325 in annual credits for travel and dining will be automatically posted to your account each cardmember year to offset eligible purchases. Purchases made with airlines, hotels, car rental companies, taxis, limousines, passenger trains and cruise line companies, plus any merchant classified as a restaurant, fast-food restaurant or bar qualify for the credit.

TSA PreCheck or Global Entry credit. Get a $100 statement credit to reimburse your TSA PreCheck or Global Entry application fee once every four years when you charge your application fee to your account.

About the author

  • Photo of Aaron Hurd, credit card and travel rewards expert.

    Aaron Hurd is a credit card, travel rewards, and loyalty program expert. Over the past 15 years, he has authored over a thousand expert contributions published by leading outlets including WSJ, TIME, Newsweek, Forbes, NerdWallet, The Points Guy, Bankrate, CNET, and many others. He has also served in consulting roles for many of these same outlets, designing content strategy, hiring teams of teams of editors and contributors, developing thought-leadership pieces, and ghost-editing for senior editors. Aaron is well-known in the miles and points community and regularly presents about travel rewards at conferences like the Chicago Seminars and Minnebar. Aaron has enjoyed the game of optimizing credit card rewards since getting his first credit card shortly after he turned 18. He started learning about credit cards and travel rewards from the (now defunct) FatWallet Finance forums and FlyerTalk. He holds more than 40 open credit cards and has first-hand experience with almost every major credit card product.

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